Freelancefolder

3 “Aren’t-I-Smart” Lies That Kill Your Profits

Posted November 5, 2007 in Productivity 36 Rockin' Comments »

When it comes to lying, there’s nobody more willing to believe us than… well, us. When we’re not doing the best things to move our business forward, we tell ourselves it’s okay, we’re doing great, it’s not that bad… but at the end of the day all that rationalization isn’t building revenue and bagging new customers.

Here’s how to recognize where we’re sweet-talking our way past out problems… and how to fix them for good. [Click here to read more →]

Improve Your Professional Productivity - Get Rid Of Distractions

Posted October 30, 2007 in Productivity 9 Rockin' Comments »

Do you often feel that you are doing everything under the sun but the actual work? You know, the activity that gets you money? Distractions can be a big problem when you work on your own: although you have deadlines and commitments there is nobody breathing down your neck to see what you are actually doing.

You never realize when you stop your work and start playing an online game, chatting with someone you know, reading “interesting” stuff on various blogs and leaving prodigal comments, conversing over the phone, discussing politics with your spouse, or doing any of those hundred things that help you spend your time but don’t give you any real return.

I know a client who until a couple of years ago was running his online business from his basement (now he has an office); most of the time when his wife thought that he was promoting his work or processing client-queries he was playing online games. And he knew he shouldn’t be doing that because he repeatedly used to confess to me whenever we interacted while doing work. [Click here to read more →]

The Balance Between Handling Business Queries vs. Doing The Actual Work

Posted October 17, 2007 in Productivity 6 Rockin' Comments »

Replying to business queries is an inveterate part of your freelance life. In most cases you don’t have a secretary to handle your business related correspondences.

Whether it’s pitching for a new project or replying to prospective clients who are interested in hiring you, you constantly need to send emails. This becomes a repetitive and time-consuming exercise if you work on smaller projects, and almost every day you handle new projects.

For instance, I am a website content writer; sometimes a project constitutes of just one page and sometimes it contains many pages of well-researched content. Working on smaller projects means in a single day I get many queries through my website and I have to reply to all of them and sometimes multiple times because the clients have many questions even if they want just one page written. [Click here to read more →]

Living Project-To-Project?

Posted October 4, 2007 in Lifestyle, Productivity 7 Rockin' Comments »

I quit my “day job” a couple of years ago to focus more on my passions (music, design, writing, among others), and hopefully make a living doing so. Another reason I quit my job was because I wanted to be my own boss, work my own hours, and basically be free to work with/for whoever I wanted to.

Saying goodbye to 9-5 wasn’t an easy decision to make, but someone had do it, and that someone happened to be me. It meant a lot of things, and literally changed my life, but it also meant saying Hi! to 12-14 hours of work per day. And still to this date I rarely work less than 10 hours a day, usually 6 days a week, sometimes 7. The difference is I get way more things done in those 10 hours than I did back then in 14 hours. Don’t get me wrong, I love it! ;) [Click here to read more →]

How Do You Manage Your Projects?

Posted September 24, 2007 in Productivity 16 Rockin' Comments »

Is your current project management system doing the job for you? Or are you struggling with a collection of notepads, post-it notes, and a flurry of client emails cluttering up your inbox?

If you’re not managing your projects in a way that a) makes it easy on you, b) leaves no room for misunderstanding with clients c) keeps things from falling through the cracks, and d) won’t break a freelancer’s bank account, then you need to find some tools pronto. Here are some suggestions … [Click here to read more →]

Why Keeping An “I Hate” List Can Make You Money

Posted September 17, 2007 in Productivity 3 Rockin' Comments »

No business is perfect - especially when it’s a small business or one-person show.

There are always things you know you need to do that will make it easier to get your work done, find new clients and make your time more valuable.

But the barriers of time, resources, and motivation often stand in the way of a more profitable you. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, you have the potential to rapidly boost your earnings simply by leveraging a powerful tool:

The “I Hate” List.

Read on to discover how. [Click here to read more →]